DCS teacher receives NC Symphony Music Educator Award
Saturday, November 19 at Meymandi Concert Hall, three music teachers from three different North Carolina counties received North Carolina Symphony (NCS) 2022 Music Educator Awards. These annual awards recognize outstanding teachers who make a lasting difference in the lives of students of all abilities and backgrounds; serve the community in an exemplary manner as a role model in music education; inspire students to reach high musical standards; and instill a love for music in children. In addition to public recognition, honorees receive monetary prizes that are generously funded by the Jennie H. Wallace Educator Award Fund. The ceremony will take place before an NCS concert featuring Erich Korngold’s Violin Concerto along with Antonín Dvořák’s Carnival Overture and Florence Price’s Symphony No.3.
Margaret Maurice of Mecklenburg County is the 2022 winner of the Maxine Swalin Award for Outstanding Music Educator. This award is named for Maxine Swalin who—together with her husband Dr. Benjamin Swalin, NCS Music Director from 1939-1972—raised funds to establish the Symphony’s children’s concert division in 1945. Ms. Maurice is currently the music teacher at Cotswold Elementary in Charlotte. For two decades, Ms. Maurice’s work has centered around young people’s learning, the arts, and educational justice. She shares her vision of “the arts for all” and arts integration with the core academic curriculum through her own classroom teaching, modeling lessons, and mentoring new teachers. Her curriculum and research explore healing trauma by supporting student self-expression through music and the arts. Her willingness to build connections and advocate for a deeper and richer experience for students embodies the goal of music education and arts education for all.
Meredith Regan of Davidson County is the 2022 winner of the Jackson Parkhurst Award for Special Achievement, named for the Symphony’s former Director of Education. Ms. Regan has aught in Davidson County for 19 years and is currently the music teacher at Denton and Southmont Elementary Schools. She has served as Lead Elementary Music teacher for Davidson County Schools and as Coordinator for the Davidson County Elementary All-County Chorus. She has been selected two different times as Teacher of the Year, at both Southwood Elementary and Southmont Elementary. At the forefront of her teaching philosophy is the belief that everyone at their core desires to be valued and loved. Ms. Regan believes that music class is one of the best places for students to experience a place of belonging. She hopes to inspire students to become the very best version of themselves.
Pablo Salamanca of Alamance County is the winner of the 2022 North Carolina Symphony Musicians Award, which honors emerging music educators with fewer than 10 years of teaching experience. Mr. Salamanca has taught at Eastlawn Elementary in Burlington since 2018. An exchange teacher from Chile, Mr. Salamanca shares his passion for his home country with his students and embraces learning the different cultures of the Eastlawn community. Mr. Salamanca believes in building a strong base of emotional and academic support to ensure the success of all students. He inspires students to want to learn about music and instills the love of music from many different cultures into the lives of his students.
“Excellent North Carolina music educators play a vital role in making it possible for us to carry out our music education mission,” says Jason Spencer, NCS Director of Education. “We are proud to recognize Margaret, Meredith, and Pablo, for their commitment to enhancing their students’ lives through the arts.”
NCS’s extensive in-person and online music education program serves more than 100,000 students of all ages across the state of North Carolina annually. In alignment with the curriculum set by the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction, the Symphony presents full orchestra Education Concerts for 4th and 5th graders and sends small ensembles into classrooms. Music Discovery for preschoolers combines music with storytelling, and at the middle and high school levels, students have opportunities to work directly with NCS artists and perform for NCS audiences through programs such as the Kathleen Price and Joseph M. Bryan Youth Concerto Competition, Ovations pre-concert performances, and master classes with NCS musicians and guest artists.
In addition to the Music Educator Awards, NCS invests in North Carolina music teachers by providing in-classroom resources such as lesson plan guides that prepare students for their Education Concerts, aligning with the statewide curriculum. Each August, the Symphony holds a professional development teacher workshop that counts toward teachers’ Continuing Education Unit credit requirement. The 2022 workshop was held on August 16 at the North Carolina Museum of Art in Raleigh.
